Since their inception, vehicles have included a grille to protect the engine from debris and a bumper to protect the vehicle from frontal impacts. Innumerable variations on grilles and bumpers and combinations of the two have existed to make the air intake closure and frontal protection stylish, functional and efficient. In recent times, the bumper has been replaced with a fascia. A fascia is a flexible covering spanning the width of a vehicle. The fascia overlies a structural bumper beam and provides a decorative and paintable surface. Some fascia designs have included integrated air intake openings and grates, bars or ribs to close these openings. Among the first vehicles to include an integrated fascia/air intake was the 1986 Ford Taurus. It included an upper air intake above the top surface of the fascia and a lower air intake in the fascia itself. A series of thin slits in the lower portion of the fascia provided both and opening for air intake as well as a closure to keep out large objects. Fascias have commonly included an opening for the lower air intake and some means to close the lower air intake against large debris entering the engine compartment.
One design that integrated both upper and lower air intakes into the fascia was the 1984 Ford EXP. This design provided a relatively narrow frontal profile with air intakes both above and below the main horizontal portion of the fascia. This horizontal portion was juxtaposed the vehicle bumper beam. This design did not present a traditional “grille” appearance on the vehicle. The slits in the fascia acted as air intakes and this design did not have a grille as used in this invention. The Ford EXP would be an example of a grille-less design where only a fascia is used to cover the bumper beam and to provide air intake closures for an engine. Modern styling trends have returned to a separate grille, usually having a different texture, finish and appearance from the fascia.
In 2003, the Audi AG showed two concept cars at the Paris Auto Show. Both concept cars had trapezoid-shaped grilles that covered upper and lower air intake openings. This trapezoid-shaped grille design has a horizontal portion. Because these were concept cars, their detailed construction was not available for examination. The 2005 Audi A6 has a grille and fascia similar in external appearance to the 2003 Paris Show Cars. The A6 grille includes a horizontal portion overlying a plastic reinforcement member. This plastic reinforcement member is not integrally formed with either the grille or fascia. This member is secured to the fascia and grille and is juxtaposed a metal bumper beam on the vehicle. The grille horizontal portion is not recessed and becomes the initial frontal impact area. The inclusion of the reinforcement member is likely needed to transfer low speed frontal impacts from the grille to the bumper beam.